The intense Florida heat and humidity were no match for the Hampton Lifeguard Association competition team. They came home from the 2026 United States Lifeguard Association National Surf Lifesaving Championships in Fort Lauderdale with several medals, especially among the junior lifeguards. The senior lifeguards placed seventh out of 42 teams — in spite of the weather, the small size of their team, and the illness and injury they battled last week.
“It was definitely hot down there. You wouldn’t even get relief going in the water. It was 84 degrees,” said John Ryan Jr., the president of the Hampton Lifeguard Association and chief lifeguard for East Hampton Town, who pulled his hamstring after the beach flags competition and ended up on crutches. “Going there and competing at that level and that heat knowing we were only 29 competitors, which is a little light for what we normally travel with. Some people also got sick. This one-day bug was working its way through five of our top competitors. Liam [Knight] was out one day and Miles [Menu] was out the day before. Daisy [Pitches] was out on Monday. That means you have to change your teams and adjust for it and doing that, now you’re asking other people to step up and they did. They rose to the occasion.”
You’d never guess Pitches, of all people, was sick. She and Vanessa Rizzo won gold in the U19 board rescue race. Pitches also won a bronze medal in the U19 run-swim-run.
“I think it might have been food poisoning — it was so violent and so sudden,” said Angelika Cruz, Pitches’s mother and the assistant coach of the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton Hurricanes swim team. “She did great considering she was completely dehydrated and not able to eat until the night before.”
Cruz managed to avoid getting sick herself and in the women’s 55-to-59-year-old category won gold in the board race, silver in the surf race, and bronze in the run-swim-run.
“I was completely exhausted. Still am,” she said on Sunday. “I can’t say I am in the best shape right now, so I am thrilled I was able to do well. But I was even happier that several of my competitors — who I only know through these competitions — came up to me to tell me they missed seeing me at last year’s competition. I was unable to go because my mom was in the hospital with pneumonia. There really is a great sense of camaraderie among all the guards of all ages.”
There also was a great sense of accomplishment among the Hampton lifeguards of all ages.
Thomas Brierley won gold in the 30-to-34-year-old men’s run-swim-run. Caleb Atkinson-Barnes won bronze in the 30-to-34 men’s 2K beach run and silver in the 30-to-34 American ironman. Sean Knight won a bronze medal in the 45-to-49 men’s beach flags. In the 60-to-64 men’s group, Mike Bahel won gold in beach flags and the 2K beach run. Thomas McGlade won bronze in the 60-to-64 men’s surf race, and among 65-to-69-year-old men, Barry Moore won bronze in beach flags and the 70-meter sprint.
It was a strong showing from a small team in a big field.
“It was challenging because there were a record high number of competitors at this year’s nationals. They never reached over 1,000 competitors before and there were just under 1,200 this year,” Ryan said. “We had 29 individuals competing — just in the open division [for lifeguards 16 and up], and that’s a combo of Town of East Hampton, Town of Southampton, and clubs, as well as some individuals who don’t work for us.”
In the junior lifeguard competition, the H.L.A.’s Dylan Zucker teamed up with Drake Harper and Nico Van der Meer of the Santa Cruz Surf Lifesaving Association and Colin Stueber of Jones Beach State Park to win gold in the U19 male rescue race.
In the female junior lifeguard A category, Callie Amicucci won silver in beach flags. Molly Grande and Heidi Rizzo won silver in the rescue race. Rizzo also won bronze in the run-swim-run.
Among the female junior lifeguard B competitors, Evelyn Rizzo won gold in the beach run and bronze in the ironguard. Reagin Poitras, Rizzo, and Sierra Metz won silver in the surf teams.
In the male junior lifeguard B competition, Ryder Bahi, Mason Curry, and Jackson Bahel won gold in the board relay. Curry also won gold in the ironguard and silver in the run-swim-run, the surf race, and the surf teams.
For the junior lifeguard C females, Makenna Amicucci won gold in the beach flags, while Mikaela Martins won silver. Quinn Flaherty, Amicucci, and Martins took silver in the board relay.
Flaherty also teamed up with Clara Mair of Jones Beach State Park to win silver in the junior rescue race.
In the male junior lifeguard C division, James Bahel won bronze in the beach run. He also combined with Leo and Luca Gigliotti of Santa Cruz to win bronze in the board relay.
Besides the medal winners, Ryan says, everyone learned something from the competition.
“To do it four days in a row — we learned a lot. Winning is enjoyable. Placing as high as we did is enjoyable. With the process being as tough, the enjoyment is seeing the success of what we’re doing,” he said. “A lot of the coaches and delegates and officials have mentioned that H.L.A. is doing the right thing. ‘Whatever you guys are doing,’ they said, ‘keep it up.’ ”
